U.S. Study Finds College Women Marrying Men Without Degrees Rises

A National Bureau of Economic Research working paper examined U.S. marriage patterns across birth cohorts from 1930 to 1980. It found that while college‑educated women have maintained stable marriage rates, the pool of similarly educated men has shrunk dramatically, with the ratio of college men to college women falling from 1.8 to 0.8. Today there are about 1.6 million more women than men enrolled in four‑year colleges.

The share of marriages where the wife holds a four‑year degree and the husband does not has risen sharply, increasing from 2.3 % of women in the 1930 cohort to 9.6 % in the 1980 cohort. Economists cite the historical availability of well‑paying, often unionized manufacturing jobs that allowed men without a degree to earn solid incomes, while fields that now attract more women, such as nursing and teaching, have increasingly required a college education. "Four‑year college rates for men stagnated essentially many decades ago, whereas for women, it’s been a steady increase," said economist Benjamin Goldman.